Maccabees

The Maccabees were a traditionalist Jewish rebel group which, from 167 BC to 129 BC, fought for Judean independence from the mighty Seleucid Empire in the Maccabean Revolt. The Maccabees were named after their first leader, Judas Maccabeus, whose surname means "the Hammer", given to him because of his ferocity in battle. The Maccabees excelled at guerrilla warfare, and they were able to destroy numerous Seleucid armies and survive several defeats due to their mobility and their support among the traditionalist Jews of the countryside. The Maccabees also opposed the influence of the reformist Hellenized Jews, who abandoned Jewish traditions and adopted aspects of Hellenic culture. In 153 BC, the Maccabee leader Jonathan Apphus became High Priest of Israel after years of struggling against the Hellenized Jews, and he was therefore made the leader of all of Judaism. Apphus was betrayed and executed by the Seleucids in 143 BC, but his brother Simon Thassi obtained Judean independence during a Seleucid civil war in 141 BC, inaugurating the Hasmonean dynasty. Judea became fully-independent from Seleucid rule in 129 BC, and would remain an independent nation until 4 BC, when the Roman Empire annexed the country.